Into The Darkness
by katielynn21
Summary: Santana is just starting to figure herself out when she meets her new neighbour, Quinn. This new girl flips Santana's entire world upside down. How will these two cope with new, and overwhelming, feelings for each other? Will it make them grow, or destroy them completely? Rated T for mature language. Rating may change later on.
1. Chapter 1

The thoughts had been rushing through Santana's mind for months. It's like, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get them to stop.

They couldn't have been right. She had tried convincing herself it was just a phase; something she would get over in a few weeks, or maybe months. But then one month passed, and then two, and then four. And day-by-day, Santana started to lose confidence in that statement. It seemed that the more she thought about it, the more she realized that it was true.

She liked girls.

She was gay and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it.

Brittany was visiting her grandparents in Holland for the entire summer break. Her parents had a 'no phone policy' so her and her little sister got their phones stored away before they left for the trip.

Santana was slowly going insane. Everything felt weird. Sure, she could've gone to any party she wanted with anybody she wanted, but Brittany was her best friend. It felt weird not talking to her everyday, not being able to just go over to her house and walk inside.

She was lonely. She was lonely even though it was only a week into summer.

"Santana!" Her mother called from downstairs. Santana knew she was probably screaming, but she couldn't hear her over the music she was blasting. Her mom regretted buying her those speakers.

Santana groaned, staring up at the ceiling, before rolling off of her bed and trudging to the door.

"Yes, Mami?" She answered.

"Come down here." Maribel said firmly.

Santana turned her music off and grumbled in annoyance as she walked downstairs and into the kitchen.

"Yes?" She replied.

Maribel finished wrapping something in plastic wrap before turning to Santana. "I need you to take these to the new neighbours." She said, handing Santana what the younger girl noticed was a tray of brownies. She started lifting the cover to take one, but her hand was smacked by her mother. "No." She reprimanded.

"We have new neighbours?" Santana asked.

"Yes. If you'd come out of the dark cave you call a room or even opened your window once in a while, you would've known that. They have a daughter your age, I was talking to her mother. I want you to be nice to her. She doesn't know anyone here. Now, go." Maribel pushed Santana outside. "And smile!"

Santana walked right through the lawn, something she knew her mother would hate. She stopped at the, rather large, gap between the two houses and shoved a brownie in her mouth defiantly. "I'll smile if I want to." She grumbled around the brownie. She noticed that, if she indeed had opened her window, she would've seen them moving in. Her window was on the side of the house that faced the neighbours. Their houses were the same size. Two of the largest on the street, actually.

She walked to the front door and knocked. Suddenly feeling relived that she had changed into denim shorts and a tank-top when she woke up instead of staying in her pyjamas. And actually straightening her hair instead of leaving it messy.

Nobody answered. Santana looked around and saw that the garage doors were open, no cars. And there were none in the driveway either. She thought nobody was home. She rang the doorbell.

 _Maybe I can eat all of these and say I gave it to them_ , Santana mused.

She was just about to do that when the door opened and she was met with the sight of a slightly panting, hazel-eyed, blonde girl in denim shorts and a black v-neck. The girls hair was braided to the side and it went down her shoulder.

"Hi. I'm sorry, I didn't hear the door." The blonde said. Santana noticed the the splatters of lavender paint on the girls shorts.

"It's totally okay." Santana said. She didn't know why her heart was beating so fast, or why her hands were getting so sweaty. "I thought nobody was home." She shrugged, hopefully nonchalantly.

"My parents are gone right now, they probably won't be home for a few hours because they told me I might as well start painting my room." Then she blushed. "Sorry." She gestured to her pants and Santana chuckled.

"It's fine. It means you're a hard worker. I'm Santana, your new neighbour." The latina shifted the tray so it was balanced on one hand and reached out with her right.

The girl reached out with her left hand, before noticing and quickly switching hands. "I'm Quinn, and you're left handed." Quinn chuckled.

"Oh yeah. I forget that I'm supposed to use my other hand for that stuff." Santana laughed. "Anyway, my mom made brownies and I was not allowed to eat any, so they are for you." She pushed the brownies towards Quinn.

"Well, if you want some, you could just eat them here. It's not like she'd know." Quinn giggled.

"That's true."

"And it would be nice to have some company while I painted. Music can only do so much." Quinn pointed out.

"Wait, you're not, like, a serial killer right? Cause I'm totally not down with that." Santana teased.

"I don't know, am I?" Quinn asked jokingly. Santana pretended to be in deep thought before she shrugged.

"Either way, the brownies are worth it." Both girls laughed and Quinn led them upstairs.

The room was almost the size of a master bedroom, but not quite. Just like Santana's. Then the latina noticed that if Quinn looked out of her window, she'd be able to see Santana's room and vice-versa.

"Hey, that's my window." Santana pointed out the window.

"Don't worry, I'm not a perv." Quinn laughed as she continued the half painted room.

"That's not what I meant." Santana snorted. "I was just saying."

Santana's phone started ringing and she rolled her eyes when she saw her mom's name.

"Hello?" She said.

"Santana? Where are you?" Maribel asked. Her tone gave away that she thought Santana was off doing something bad.

"I'm with Quinn, she's painting her room." Santana explained.

"Who's Quinn?"

"You know, new neighbour." Santana laughed.

"Oh! You're talking to her? Wow, Santana. That's a new record." Maribel chuckled. Santana rolled her eyes.

"Whatever mom, I have to go. Bye." And she hung up without hesitation.

"Your mom sounds funny." Quinn giggled.

"She's annoying. Anyway, want some help?" Santana asked, standing up and walking to the blonde girl.

"Sure. Wanna start on that wall?" She asked, gesturing the the wall beside her.

"M'kay." Santana hummed. Quinn bent down and turned her iPod on, letting it play music, loud enough to hear, but not enough for them to have to shout over.

Santana laughed at the first song that came on. "Maroon 5?" She asked.

"You don't like them?" Quinn asked with a pout.

"Are you kidding? I love them!" They both sang along as Moves Like Jagger played and Santana honestly loved Quinn's voice.

Then the chorus came on and they stopped actually singing, instead choosing to belt out the lyrics in between fits of giggles. When Christina Aguileras part came on, Santana went full out.

She blushed when she saw that Quinn was looking at her.

"That was great." The blonde said honestly.

"Thanks. You're not too bad yourself, Blondie." She winked. But then she wondered if it was too much. Would Quinn think she was flirting and be disgusted? Was she even flirting? Would Quinn catch on that she thought she might've been gay?

But Quinn only chuckled and Santana remembered that it was normal for friends to do that with each other. Even if she couldn't technically call her and Quinn friends yet.

It seemed like in a blink of an eye, they were done the two walls and were moving on to the trim around the door, painting it white. Santana had always loved art. She loved to draw, paint, take pictures. So it was a lot of fun for her. She was being a perfectionist, never letting the white paint get on the green tape they had put where the wall met the trim.

When she looked over, it seemed like Quinn was doing the same thing. The music was playing still, and they would softly hum along, but other than that they were silent. It was nice, Santana thought, to be content with someone just being with you. Without having to keep up conversations.

Just as it was getting dark out, ye two girls finished the trim around the main door, closet door, and windows. Santana hadn't realized she spent so much time there. They heard the door opening and Santana thought it must be Quinn's parents.

Somewhere between them painting, they had started playing around and got white paint on their clothes. Neither girl really cared though, because it was a lot of fun.

"You should stay for dinner." Quinn suggested.

"Aren't I supposed to invite you guys over for dinner?" Santana laughed.

"You can do it another time." Quinn shrugged, smirking.

They walked downstairs and Santana saw two older blondes putting bags on the dining room table, one of the few pieces of furniture that was assembled.

"Mom, dad. Can Santana stay for dinner?" Quinn asked. Both of the adults looked at the girls and the woman smiled.

"Of course. You live next door, right? I talked to your mother the other day." She said.

"Are you sure? It's your first night here. I don't want to impose-"

"Nonsense." Quinn's father interjected. "It would be a pleasure."

"O-okay. I'll just call my mom and let her know." Santana said.

"Can you call us when dinner is ready?" Quinn asked, already pulling Santana upstairs and towards her room.

Santana pulled her phone out and called her mom's number.

"Hey, mom." Santana greeted. "Can I stay over for dinner?"

"O-oh. Of course, Santana. This is very strange." Maribel chucked. Santana rolled her eyes.

"You make it sound like I hate everybody." She grumbled.

"Mija, you do." Maribel said, feigning seriousness.

"Mom! Okay, bye." She snapped, hanging up and looking at Quinn, who was failing at hiding her smile. Her body was shaking with withheld laughter before she caved.

"Your mom is so funny." She chuckled.

"Shut up." Santana mumbled childishly. "I swear I don't hate everybody." She promised.

"Of course you don't. Because you freaking love me." Quinn bragged. Santana's heart stopped. She knew she was being paranoid, but that didn't stop the thoughts from coming.

Then Quinn gave a nervous laugh and looked at Santana weirdly. "I'm kidding, San." She chuckled.

"I know you are." Santana smiled. She was honestly so confused as to how she got here. Quinn made her feel so comfortable, even though they only met a few hours prior. She felt like she had known her almost as long as she knew Brittany. It was weird. But she liked it.

The two girls laid on Quinn's floor, after laying a sheet down, and showed each other their favourite songs. They ended up having almost the exact same playlists. As they did so, Santana noticed that Quinn was wearing a silver bracelet on her left wrist that had a letter 'D' charm hanging from it. Her heart sunk because, did Quinn have a boyfriend back in Chicago? Were they still together? She didn't even know the girl properly and she already had feelings for her.

Hormones, Santana. She mentally chastised herself.

About half an hour later, they were called downstairs for dinner.

"Sorry it's not a big meal. We haven't gotten the proper things so you're stuck with this restaurant called Breadstix. We asked around and apparently it's good so-"

"Say no more, Mrs. Fabray. Breadstix has the best breadsticks in the history of breadsticks. I will literally bow down to you." Santana said seriously.

"No need for that, Sweetie." Mrs. Fabray giggled. "I like her." She said to Quinn as Santana helped Mr. Fabray set the food on the table.

Quinn laughed and joined Santana.

When they sat down to eat, Santana and Quinn sat next to each other. "So, Santana. You have siblings?" Mrs. Fabray asked.

"Yes. I have an older brother and sister." Santana nodded.

"Oh, where are they?"

"Well, my sister is away in California right now. She's helping our cousin with her twins. My brother is coming back from a trip to Miami in a few days too." Santana informed.

"Oh, are they younger than you?" Quinn asked this time.

"No. My brother, Marcus, he's 23. And my sister is 21, Shay." Santana continued.

"And they're both going to college?" Mr. Fabray asked.

"Shay is. Marcus works a lot." Santana said quietly.

They slipped into more casual conversations after that. Talking about why the Fabrays decided to move from Chicago to Lima, about some of Santana's hobbies, things like that. And then it came to the topic of cheerleading.

"Yeah, the summer is going alright." Santana lied. "But it might be cut short."

"Why is that?" Mrs. Fabray, who asked Santana to call her Judy, asked.

"Because our crazy cheerleading coach might decide to start cheer camp." Santana shrugged.

"There's a cheerleading team at McKinley?" Quinn asked. When Santana nodded, she practically squealed. "Oh thank god. I wasn't sure if there would be one here or not."

Santana wanted to tell her not to get her hopes up, but Quinn was so excited. "Yeah, you should totally try out."

The rest of dinner was nice and Santana felt extremely comfortable with the Fabrays.

When she was leaving, she thanked them for the meal and Quinn walked her to the door.

"You should come over tomorrow. You can help me finish my room."

"What, am I your room decorating slave now?" Santana asked with a smirk.

"Oh, it was just that we had fun and I don't know I-"

"I'm joking, Q." Santana didn't know where the nickname came from. But she had a feeling it would stay. "Sure I'll come over. I have nothing else to do anyway."

They said goodbye and Santana walked over to her house with a smile on her face.

"I'm home!" She called out to no one in particular as she entered the house.

She walked in the living room and saw her mother watching tv. "Had fun?" She asked when she saw her daughters face.

"Yeah, they're really nice. I'm going over to help Quinn finish her room." Santana shrugged, hopping upstairs and towards her bedroom.

The first thing she did was grab her iPod and get all the songs that Quinn showed her. She was totally looking forward to the next day.


	2. Chapter 2

Santana managed to wake up before noon the next day. She showered and changed into shorts and a black shirt so that she wouldn't get too messy incase they needed to paint again and she tied her hair in a pony tail.

She walked to the Fabray's house and saw that there were no cars again. She knocked and nobody answered. Then she rang the doorbell.

Quinn must've been sleeping. She smirked and ran back into her house, going straight to her bedroom. She opened her window and started blasting her music. Suddenly, the window on the other house opened and a half-asleep Quinn poked her head out.

"What the hell?" She grumbled and Santana cursed herself for getting turned on at how raspy the other girls voice was when she was sleeping. She instead chose to focus on Quinn's hair, that looked more like a mane, and giggled.

"Nice hair. Trying to be a lion?" Santana laughed. "Get up, lazy ass. I'm gonna help you with your room. You have 10 minutes till I'm at your door."

And Santana literally gave her ten minutes. She was at Quinn's door ringing the doorbell relentlessly.

When the door swung open, Santana's jaw went slack at the sight. Quinn was buttoning her shorts and had no top on, her blue lace bra the only thing covering her. Between her teeth was a light blue tank-top, her face was scrunched adorably. Santana noticed her abs and she felt a dull throbbing between her legs.

Quinn took the shirt from her mouth and pulled it over her head while she glared at the latina. "I think I liked you better yesterday." Quinn said. She pouted when she noticed there was a little bit of spit on her shirt from when it had been between her teeth.

Santana took a deep breath and pulled her eyes from the girls toned abdomen before grinning the biggest grin she could muster. She chuckled at Quinn's pout and her shirt.

"I'm annoying." She shrugged, trying to stop herself from drooling. Quinn raised an eyebrow at her and looked her up and down before sighing.

"I suppose you're alright most of the time. Now let's go, this'll be fun." Quinn smiled, grabbing Santana's hand and dragging her upstairs. Santana's hand burned where the contact was and she tried focusing on anything but that.

She noticed that a lot of the boxes from the day before weren't there anymore and were probably already unpacked.

As they walked in Quinn's room, she saw that there were at least 10 boxes on the floor.

"Holy shit, Fabray. Did you get _anything_ done since I left you?" Santana asked, amused.

"I set up my bed by myself." The blonde pointed out with a pout. Santana looked to the bed that's headboard was resting against the wall. She applauded over enthusiastically to which a Quinn rolled her eyes.

"Anyway," Santana continued. "How are we decorating?"

"Well, we bought these book shelves that you nail on the wall-"

"Wanky." Santana winked.

"What?" Quinn asked, brows furrowed.

"Wanky." The latina clarified. "You're joking right. You don't know what wanky is?" She asked with a disbelieving laugh.

Quinn shook her head and gave Santana a weird look. "You know, it's like 'That's what she said' except better because it's not used by horny, immature, prepubescent boys." Santana explained. Quinn paused for a long moment.

She blinked once. "Oh." She said, realizing she was supposed to say something. When Santana glared at her, she grinned cheekily. "I'm kidding. I've never heard that before, but I have a feeling I'll be hearing it a lot."

"Hell yeah you will. It's like, my favourite word besides fuck and breadsticks." Santana shrugged.

"Wanna hear something crazy?" Quinn asked.

"Your hair in the morning?" Santana smirked.

"No." Quinn narrowed her eyes. "That's mean by the way. But, I've never had breadsticks." The blonde admitted

"But we just had it last night." Santana pointed out.

"But I didn't try the breadsticks." Quinn said. When Santana clutched her chest and gasped, Quinn's eyes went wide.

"Santana, are you okay?!" She asked immediately.

"You've never had b-breadsticks?" Santana asked in disbelief. When Quinn slowly nodded, Santana jumped up and started pulling Quinn outside. "Let's go, Q."

"Where?" Quinn asked, she was kind of scared to be honest.

"To Breadstix."

"You don't even let me grab my wallet." Quinn grumbled.

"Whatever. They always give me a discount because of how much business I give them. It also helps that I scare em' a little." Santana shrugged, making Quinn laugh.

When she saw Quinn looking at the menu with a frown, she spoke up. "You can order whatever you want. Just pay me back when we get to your place." It seemed to make Quinn loosen up significantly and she smiled.

"Okay." The blonde nodded. Of course Santana wouldn't take the money. It wasn't a big deal, but for the time being it made Quinn happy.

"Here." Santana said through a mouthful of breadsticks. She held out the piece of bread to Quinn and waited for the blonde to take it.

When she did, Quinn squinted her eyes as she examined it before breaking a piece off and popping it into her mouth. Santana leaned over the table, eagerly awaiting the other girls critique.

"It's.. Actually really good." Quinn said through a chuckle. Santana flew back in her seat and cheered. Her hands were pumping in the air as she mimicked a crowd cheering.

"Santana Lopez has the best taste buds in the world. Woo!" She cheered for herself.

Quinn snorted at the other girls behaviour. "Dork." She giggled. Santana merely shrugged.

"What do you want?"

The girls ordered and ate, but they enjoyed the breadsticks more than the actual food. When they finished, Santana drove them back to the Fabrays. Quinn ran upstairs and got her wallet, attempting to give Santana money for her food, but the latina wasn't having it.

"Shut up, Q. I don't need it. You barely even ate." Was her reasoning. After a few more futile attempts, Quinn gave up.

"So, can we go finish my room now?"

"Sure."

When they walked into the room, Santana looked to her left and saw a large empty space by the closet. She opened the bedroom door until it was touching the wall and mentally considered her options. "Can you pass me the bookshelves?" She asked.

Quinn brought one over and the latina smiled. "Here, we can set those up here since there's nothing here. Your dresser can go here." She gestured the the wall that had the door on it. "And your night table can go right here." She pointed at the space between the bed and the window that was on the wall opposite to the door. "That's just the basics. We can put pictures and posters and things up when we're done."

Quinn watched the shorter girl with a small smile. "Okay." Was all she said before they set off to work. She put her iPod dock on the floor and plugged it in before placing her iPod in it and playing her music.

As they went, Santana would grin when she heard a song that she suggested Quinn to listen to. It was nice to know that she listened.

The lavender colour of Quinn's walls went nicely with the white of her furniture. They pushed Quinn's desk to the corner where the wall with the closet and the wall with the window met. "My desk faces this way too." Santana had explained shyly.

Once they were done that, they nailed the bookshelves to the wall and set the books up by author, as Quinn requested.

Then they started taking things out of boxes.

"What's this?" Santana asked with a smirk, picking up a old-looking plush lamb.

"That's Dots." Quinn said with narrowed eyes.

Santana gave a breathy laugh and gently set the lamb on the bed next to where they were sitting on the floor. "Hi Dots, you seem cool so you can stay." She said.

Quinn looked away to hide her smile. Santana was unpredictable.

"Do you want something to drink?" She asked, standing up.

"Yeah. Anything's fine." Santana replied.

She continued to go through the boxes, folding clothes and setting them aside.

Then she got to what seemed to be a family picture. It seemed recent. Quinn looked 16, there was a little boy that looked like he was 10 or 11 and a woman that seemed to be 26 or 27. They were all smiling brightly.

When Quinn got back, she sat in front of Santana again and handed her the bottle of Pepsi.

"What's that?" She asked.

Santana showed her and Quinn's heart sunk. "Who's this?" The latina asked, pointing to the boy and the girl.

"That's my little brother, Daniel, and my older sister, Frannie." Quinn said as she deadpanned.

"Where are they?" Santana asked. None of the other rooms were occupied and she hadn't seen anybody else in her time there.

"Uh. Frannie is living with her husband in Seattle and Daniel.. Um. He passed away. It was a few months after that-that picture actually." Quinn said quietly. Santana immediately regretted asking once she saw the kicked-puppy look on Quinn's face.

"Shit. I'm so sorry, Q. I shouldn't have asked." Santana said immediately.

"No, no. It's okay. I need to learn how to talk about it one day, don't i?" Quinn gave a humourless laugh and shook her head.

"You don't have to if you don't want to." The latina clarified.

"I want to." Quinn said with a tone of finality. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before looking down at her hands in her lap. "There was a really bad storm back in Chicago. Daniel was being dropped off from a friend's birthday party. Th-there was a drunk driver who's car swerved out of control and-and hit them. Their car almost completely wrapped around a light post. They managed to get them all to the hospital. Um. D-Daniel's friend and his mom were okay. They just had some injuries. They c-couldn't stop the bleeding for him. It must've been the way he was sitting at the time or something, but there were too many wounds and he lost _so much blood_. He was gone within 4 hours." Quinn choked on the last sentence out and let out a sob. It was then that it clicked to Santana that the 'D' charm was for Daniel.

"It was my fault." She said after a few moments. "I was supposed to pick him up that day but I decided to go to a party and get drunk instead. If I had gone to get him, things might've been different. I never went the same way they did. I used to take back roads. He would've been fine." Quinn sobbed. Santana moved and wrapped her arms around the weeping blonde.

"It's okay. It wasn't your fault, Q. You couldn't have known it would've happened." She tried to soothe.

"But it was! I was an idiot. I snuck out and went to my friends stupid party instead of picking up my little brother! Who does that?" Quinn said firmly.

Santana used her hand to tilt Quinn's head up so their eyes met. "It's not your fault." Santana whispered, then her body went on autopilot and she was leaning down.

Their lips met and both girls instantly relaxed. Quinn hesitated before deepening the she felt the blonde kissing back, Santana's eyes widened and she ripped herself away as if it burned.

"I-I'm so sorry. I have to g-go." She rushed out before standing up in a daze and hurrying out the door.

"Santana! Wait!" Quinn called after her. She heard the front door open and close, signalling that she was alone, and sighed deeply.

Santana was practically sprinting back home. That couldn't have happened.

"Mija? What's wrong?" Maribel asked as her daughter rushed through the door, looking as if she saw a ghost.

"Nothing." Santana squeaked, taking the steps two at a time until she got to her room and locked the door, enveloping herself in darkness. 

**A/N: Reviews are great :) Let me know how i'm doing and how you're liking the story!**


End file.
